Talk:Roofmistress
Important Aiel customs directly relate to roofmistresses There's a note that says not to add to this page because there's not enough information in the books to expand it. What about adding a bit on the formal ceremony of addressing a roofmistress? How about adding Lian's name as the roofmistress of Cold Rocks hold? For that matter, what about the fact that that a roofmistress such as Lian can speak for the hold, not just for her personal house, when a clan chief asks to enter? Reference TSR chapter 49 when Rhuarc intones "I ask leave enter your hold, roofmistress." Even though they're married, Lian announces formally "You have my leave, clan chief." Heirn words the request slightly differently, but the difference is highly significant: "Roofmistress, I ask leave to come beneath your roof." The response is: "You have my leave, Heirn...Beneath my roof there is water and shade for you. The Jindo sept is always welcome here." When Rand uses the latter form of the request, people are surprised at his modesty. That says something about the rank of Heirn compared to Rhuarc I think, but perhaps someone else can shed some light at that. (Isn't Heirn a clan chief, too?) It's the roofmistress, though, whose place it was to accept (or not) Rand's untraditional wording and smooth over the faux pas. We see one more way a roofmistress can deal with a faux pas and set the tone for a guest with Couladin. He uses the less modest wording of the request despite his not being a clan chief at all. Lian give a formal response that Aviedha explains is "as one friendless and alone...she welcomed him as a beggar. The gravest insult to him, and none to the Shaido." Roofmistresses do more than own a hold, they are diplomats that are expected to deal with foreign affairs! (Inasmuch as other clans are foreign.) This is the formal response that declares what she thinks of Couladin's status: "You have my leave...to step beneath my roof. Water and shade will be found for you." So actually there's two distinct kinds of roofmistress, any Aiel woman who owns a house and the hold's representative roofmistress, perhaps one married to the resident clan chief. Regarding the more common kind, we can add the fact that Aviendha explains in TSR chapter 48: "When a woman is to marry, if she does not already own a roof, her family builds one for her. On her wedding day her new husband carries her away from her family across his shoulder, with his brothers holding off her sisters, but at the door he puts her down and asks her permission to enter. The roof is hers." This illustrates the extent to which "a man cannot own a roof any more than he can own land" and the fundamental concept of a roofmistress. There is not enough information provided from the Wheel of Time universe to expand this article? *sniff* Seebster 17:07, February 7, 2011 (UTC) :Looks like there is more info. By all means, please add it as you see fit. :) ----[[User:Mainphramephreak| Willie]] - [[User Talk:Mainphramephreak|''HtS'']] 18:57, February 7, 2011 (UTC) I'll give it a go by copying a lot of what I wrote on this talk page, but I hope someone can help by organizing it, making it conform more to a wiki-style format. Seebster 16:12, February 15, 2011 (UTC)